Pour One Out for the Inventor of the Red Solo Cup, Who Has Died at 84

If you've ever chugged watery beer out of a red plastic cup at a party, you have Robert Leo Huselman to thank (or resent.) People reports that Huselman, the inventor of the red Solo cup, died December 21 at 84.

Huselman is credited with developing the iconic red cup in the 1970s, complete with the red color and fill lines. (In case you hadn't noticed, the rings inside the cup show 1.5 ounces for liquor, 5 ounces for wine, and 12 ounces for beer.) According to Mental Floss, 60 percent of Solo party cup sales are for red cups, and it's been that way since the cup first hit stores. It's such a standard that other countries sell "American red cups" for drinkers who want to have U.S.-themed parties.

Huselman started working at the Solo Cup Company factory at age 18, and ended up succeeding his father as CEO in 1980. "Many of the products he developed are ubiquitous today, including the Red Solo Cup and Traveller Lid," his official obituary reads. Yes, he also developed a version of a lid you see on every coffee cup, and though it didn't get a country song, it did get featured at the Museum of Modern Art.